This paper explores the linkage between ongoing clean energy-transition, technology and business model emergence in the German energy sector. The speed of energy-transition is often led by innovative startups. Startups with innovative products, services, or value propositions are a key indicator, supporting successful energy-transition. Though, commercial databases cover comprehensive details to understand startup’s financial activity and stakeholder relation, but without considering their innovation and business activity. Measuring the actual activities of energy startups is pivotal to capture the impact of energy-transition. To put this into perspective, a hybrid approach of data collection combining structured and unstructured data has been proposed in the following work. A list of 240 innovative startups belonging to different categories and technology focus are examined. Furthermore, data-driven analysis is performed over the data collected from multiple sources. Renewable technologies are yet the most preferred technology focus among German entrepreneurs and stakeholders. 24.6% startups are identified in this category followed by 17.5% in energy management and 16.2% in energy storage. The evidence from this study suggests a clear shift in technology and the value proposition of successful innovative startups in Germany. Digitalisation of the energy sector is fostering the development of multi-sided digital platform driven business models. The result suggested that 8.0% of startups have implemented purely platform based services while 15.7% are experimenting with platform business models along with traditional business to business (B2B) and business to customer (B2C) business models. Findings could guide policymakers and federal agencies to provide a vision for future technology and business model adaptation in the German energy sector.

本文探讨了德国能源部门正在进行的清洁能源转型、技术和商业模式出现之间的联系。能源转型的速度通常由创新型初创公司引领。具有创新产品、服务或价值主张的初创企业是支持能源转型成功的关键指标。虽然商业数据库涵盖了全面的细节以了解初创公司的财务活动和利益相关者关系，但没有考虑他们的创新和商业活动。衡量能源初创企业的实际活动对于捕捉能源转型的影响至关重要。从这个角度来看，在以下工作中提出了一种结合结构化和非结构化数据的数据收集混合方法。审查了属于不同类别和技术重点的 240 家创新创业公司。此外，对从多个来源收集的数据进行数据驱动分析。可再生技术仍然是德国企业家和利益相关者最喜欢的技术重点。24.6% 的初创公司属于这一类别，其次是能源管理领域的 17.5% 和能源存储领域的 16.2%。这项研究的证据表明，德国成功的创新创业公司的技术和价值主张发生了明显转变。能源部门的数字化正在促进多边数字平台驱动的商业模式的发展。结果表明，8.0% 的初创公司实施了纯粹基于平台的服务，而 15. 7% 正在试验平台业务模式以及传统的企业对企业 (B2B) 和企业对客户 (B2C) 业务模式。调查结果可以指导政策制定者和联邦机构为德国能源部门的未来技术和商业模式适应提供愿景。